Sanu picked in third round by Cincinnati Bengals

Mohamed Sanu made national headlines during the first round of the NFL Draft, but not the kind Rutgers’ record-setting wide receiver had been hoping for.

Late Thursday night his agent, Mike McCartney, posted on Twitter that Sanu had been drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals. As it turned out, Sanu was the recipient of a prank phone call as someone called his cell phone, identified himself as a Bengals official, and said the club was picking Sanu with the No. 27 pick.

When the Bengals went with another player, McCartney retracted his post and tweeted: “Very cruel prank call to a Sanu tonight — very sad that someone would do that. My apologies to the twitter world for my tweet.’’

For his part, Sanu took the prank in stride, posting on Twitter on Friday morning: “Thank God for giving me another day and another opportunity to chase my dream #thankfulandblessed”

That dream — finally — was realized Friday night when the Bengals actually picked Sanu in the third round with the No. 83 pick overall in the NFL Draft.

Sanu wasn’t available for immediate comment Friday night, but McCartney posted on Twitter at 10:21 p.m., “Congrats to @M0SAnu being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals!’’

And this time, there would be no need to retract the Twitter post.

“I have tremendous respect for Marvin Lewis, who called this morning after hearing about the idiotic prank call to lend his support,” McCartney tweeted moments after Sanu was picked for real.

After opting to forgo his senior campaign following a season in which he set a Big East and Rutgers single-season record with 115 receptions, Sanu was hoping to join Tennessee wideout Kenny Britt, San Francisco right tackle Anthony Davis and New England defensive back Devin McCourty as the only Rutgers players to be NFL first-round picks.
It didn’t happen. Sanu couldn’t even join the list of Rutgers second-round picks that includes Baltimore All-Pro running back Ray Rice, Cincinnati fullback Brian Leonard, former Philadelphia tight end L.J. Smith and former Cincinnati tight end Marco Battaglia.

“There really isn’t anything Mo can’t do on the football field,” Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. “He embodies what our players are all about — he is smart, fast and tough. For all the
reasons the NFL loves Ray Rice, they will love Mo. The Cincinnati Bengals are getting a terrific person — and player — in Mo Sanu.”

The eighth-rated wide receiver according to NFL.com before the draft, Sanu had to wait until 11 wideouts went off the board before getting picked by a Bengals team that also features Leonard.

“Congrats to @M0SAnu.. Bengals got a great player but an even better person.. Looking forward to playing with my man!” Rutgers’ former star fullback tweeted shortly after his club’s pick was revealed.

About Keith Sargeant

Keith Sargeant is a graduate of Middlesex County College and Kean University. A Home News Tribune staff writer since August 1997, Keith has been covering Rutgers sports since 2000, serving as the Scarlet Knights' football beat writer since 2006.

T.J. Jurkiewicz Our in-house gambling expert made his run at glory this past summer Over the summer, our contributor T.J. Jurkiewicz made a significant run in the Tag Team event at the famed World Series of Poker. Out of 976 entries, T.J. and his partner finished in 4th place, splitting winning of $52,390. Did you […]

Art Pittman-USA TODAY Sports With Rutgers on a bye, here are who we are paying attention to within the conference. With Rutgers on a bye, our staff let you know which Big Ten teams we will be watching this weekend. Adam Ross: I’ll be keeping my eye on the Maryland-Temple game. Maryland is our next […]